Holiday in Bradford- what to do?

[jasminoide]

DH is working from an office for the first 3 weeks of August and we've decided to go along and make a holiday out of it. Accommodation is sorted, just looking for recommendations for things to do with a teen and tween. We will have a car and don't mind driving up to an hour, or 90 minutes for a really nice place.
So far we'd like to go to Flamingo Land and the cat cafe in Leeds. I'd love to go to a Botanical garden (of the indoor, tropical type) but not sure where the closest would be? We are planning day trips to Sheffield, Manchester and perhaps Leicester.
Open to all ideas, the hidden gems as well as the well known places.
Is Flamborough worth going to for the views?

PerciphonePuma

Wow! Are you serious??
My son and his girlfriend have lived in the city centre for 2 years and both work in Bradford.
Never had a days bother and absolutely love the place

@PerciphonePuma what a load of tosh! Ex police officer here with many friends still serving in Bradford. There are NO police no go areas in this city. I do not know of a single solitary person who has been impacted by knife crime in this city, and I've socialised in it pretty much around the clock for my entire life

[quote Restlessinthenorth]@PerciphonePuma what a load of tosh! Ex police officer here with many friends still serving in Bradford. There are NO police no go areas in this city. I do not know of a single solitary person who has been impacted by knife crime in this city, and I've socialised in it pretty much around the clock for my entire life [/quote]
My ex was a police officer in Bradford and told me that himself!

@MrsPnut You simply cannot compare Harrogate's poorer areas to ANY part of Bradford!! 😂

@PerciphonePuma, well obviously you don't know Bradford very well then. Ilkley, Saltaire, Haworth and Tong are all within Bradford council district and all except Ilkley have Bradford postcodes.

Not all police officers have fair and rational opinions of the areas in which they work.

Just a note, OP - Ilkley Lido is empty at the moment so don't plan a trip there. No reopening date as yet. The indoor pool is open. Don't go swimming in the river at Ilkley, it is at the centre of a campaign to clean up our rivers.

Update - we had to come earlier than expected and we are on day 4 now. We live in a very white, non diverse county so we are totally blown away by the diversity here, it feels like a proper holiday for us. On the first day we discovered Manchester Supermarket and what a treat that was - we haven't seen so many of the fruit/veg before and the aromatic smell of them is sonething you certainly don't get in Tesco! We spent ages examining the aisles of tea, clay cooking pots and bought far too many jelly sweets. We tried Kashmiri pink tea, milk cake and a range of Pakistani (?) sweets that look like coloured fudge. We've been to The Broadway, have the science/media museum booked and are booked into Akbar's tonight for dinner. It's a bit rough and ready around Leeds Road but we have felt very safe here and people are very friendly. We were getting into the car yesterday and a neighbour (who thought we'd moved in) came to welcome us 😁. I can see why it's not the typical tourist destination but we have really had our eyes opened and enjoyed trying new things. We are very much #teamBradford so far!

Great update OP; glad to hear you're enjoying it so far!

I love Akbars, can highly recommend the tikka makhani and you must get a family naan, it comes hanging from a stand it’s so big! Enjoy

PS sorry about the weather though

Yay #teambradford! Are you based around Leeds road then? Jinnah in town is also good. And there's a great Thai place hiding round the corner from there. Bangkok Thai I think it's called. You're well placed there for the Odeon cinema and popping over to Leeds too.

Don’t recommend the cat cafe: depressing!

@Aprilinspringtimeshower

Leicester is miles away! Why?

Exactly - leicester is dire. I guess it has the space centre if you are into that but that is about it !!

It’s Yorkshire Day on Sunday. I just saw this article and thought of you:

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/whats-on/things-to-do/yorkshire-day-2021-nine-fun-activities-you-can-enjoy-to-celebrate-gods-own-country-on-august-1-3321779

York would be a good do!

Yey! #teamBradford
The people really are lovely
I'm glad your having a good time!

Can I please hijack this brilliant thread to ask for a tearoom in Harrogate if Betty's is a bit of a tourist trap?

Thank you

Glad you're having a good time OP. Sorry the weather is shit. There's some sort of food festival in the city centre near the fountains over the weekend.

@jasminoide so lad you are enjoying! Not sure if you are aware but there is a street food festival running in centenary square over the weekend. I think there is a large covered tipi area. It looks fab!

Thank you for the further recommendations. We went to City Park a few days ago to see the fountains and they were setting up something, which must be the food festival. Will definitely take a look tomorrow.
DC were hungry (again!) and we just went out and got chicken fillet burger meals for £2.99 each. I suspect we will come home about a stone heavier between the cheap fast food and gorgeous sweets. The dc think they are in heaven 😁

I wouldn’t bother with Harlow Carr and a bit hilly
It’s expensive
Harrogate valley gardens is stunning, free , great children’s play area, lovely cafe and stunning plants and foliage

Royal armouries is fab and was free when I was there last
York railway museum also good and free
Rowntrees park in york also good if you want to clump a few things together or the museum gardens are nice in the centre if you want to let off steam
Just wandering round the streets people watching is good also
They have a good market on very day with some good street food
Boat trips on the river
Thorpe perrow is lovely but a bit of a hike from where you are staying

I would head for the outdoor tearoom in the valley gardens if weather is nice
Plants and foliage are stunning

Yes weather permitting we are heading to york on Sunday

Go #teamBradford !!

Unfortunately no one can do anything about the Pennine weather, not even the good folk of Harrogate! It’s lovely looking at a city I know well as a holiday destination!!

If this weather keeps up I'm going to need to rethink a lot of my itinery. Stupidly we didn't even bring coats or warm clothes as we left in the heatwave so the outdoorsy stuff will be out of the question. I'm booking the mining museum for next week, does anyone know if Tropical World is mostly indoors or out? I can't work out from the website.

Tropical world is indoors (and v hot!) But the car park is a bit of a walk away. It makes me so happy to hear that you're enjoying your time here so far. People can be so negative about Bradford but I think it's a lovely place to live.